What is the difference between exFAT, FAT32 and NTFS?

You must have heard a lot about the terminology when using your computer such as formatting the hard drive as NTFS or formatting the FAT32 hard drive, right?

But to understand its true nature, not everyone understands it all, so in this article, blogchiasekienthuc.com will help you better understand these two formats as well as how to convert between the two formats. This type of hard drive is the fastest and safest way.

Well, before formatting any storage device such as HDD, removable hard drive or USB ., we will have a section to choose the format you want Format, and specifically This is FAT32 and NTFS format.

First we need to learn through the concept of FAT32 and NTFS.

I. The concept of FAT32 and NTFS

FAT32 NTFS FAT32 was first released in the Windows 95 version or it is also known as Service Pack 2 (OSR 2).

Fat32 is considered an extended version of FAT16 format. Because of using 32 bit address space, FAT32 supports more Cluster on one Partition.

This means that the hard disk space is used more than before.

The maximum partition size that FAT32 supports is 2TB and the maximum length of the file name to be extended is 255 characters.

This made FAT16 format quickly forgotten.

However, the disadvantages of FAT32 are poor security and fault tolerance (Fault Tolerance) is not high.

NTFS, the full name is New Technology File System was introduced by Microsoft along with the 1993 Windows NT version (this version also supports FAT32).

NTFS is a new system format standard with 64-bit address space, the ability to change the size of the Cluster independent of the capacity of the hard disk.

NTFS has overcome the limitations of the number of clusters, the maximum file size on a hard disk partition, support for data encryption, and the ability to decentralize to each file.

NTFS uses the MFT (Master File Table) file management table instead of the familiar FAT table, to enhance storage capacity, security of files and folders, and the ability to encrypt data to each file.

In addition, NTFS is highly error-tolerant, allowing users to close an 'dead' application without affecting other applications.

However, NTFS is not suitable for low-capacity drives (below 400 MB) and cannot be used on floppy disks.

II. Comparison between 2 formats FAT32 and NTFS

1. Format FAT32

1. A format that was developed quite early, so it has many disadvantages compared to NTFS.
2. Poor security, no support for decentralization, encryption .
3. Poor resilience and fault tolerance.
4. In the event of a sudden power failure, Windows XP and earlier operating systems must re-scan the hard drive when booting (and of course the hard drive is in FAT32 format).
5. Only supports storing files up to

2. Format NTFS

1. NTFS is a much more advanced file system than FAT32. It has all the features of a modern file system that FAT32 doesn't have.
2. High fault tolerance.
3. High security, support decentralization and file encryption.
4. Allows to store files with a much larger capacity than FAT32.

3. ExFAT format

exFAT has been in use since 2006 until now. This is a format that is optimized for external storage devices, flash memory.

It can be said that exFAT is an improvement of FAT32 format, so it limits a lot of errors compared to FAT32 format.

1. Higher compatibility than NTFS: You can use this format on all versions of Windows, MAX OS X newer versions.
2. The exFAT format is very suitable for USB, portable hard drives .
3. Can save files> 4GB in size without the same restrictions as FAT32.

II. The reason you should use the NTFS format

1. High security, support for decentralization, encryption . generally advanced features that FAT32 format does not support.

With NTFS format you will not need to use software, encryption utilities or set a password to hide folders like FAT32, because default NTFS supports this as long as you know how to exploit and use them properly. way.

2. NTFS is capable of recording the operations that the operating system has been manipulating on data, it is able to immediately identify the corrupted files without having to re-scan the entire file system like FAT32. .

This makes the data recovery process much quicker. This is really the advantage of the NTFS format compared to FAT32.

3. When the computer power out suddenly, the Windows XP and earlier versions . have to re-scan the drive when rebooted if the disk is formatted with FAT32 format.

Meanwhile, if you Format the hard disk with NTFS, you will not need to scan the drive again, because the NTFS format system has saved the information about the integrity of the data written on the disk, and it takes very little time. time to know if your disk is logically faulty and if so, the system recovers itself extremely quickly and accurately.

4. NTFS is able to access and process compressed files very quickly, just like accessing uncompressed files. This not only saves hard disk space but also increases the life of your hard drive.

5. Windows operating system will be much more stable if it is installed on a partition formatted with NTFS format. Furthermore, NTFS is also equipped with Microsoft's very good disk repair and inspection tools.

6. Format NTFS also provides many other advanced features for advanced users such as 'mount partition', creating a 'hard link' to a file, support for RAID .

III. What devices is FAT32 suitable for?

FAT32 still proves to be quite useful for computers with low configuration, and often memory cards or USB stick usually use the FAT32 format.

IV. How to check partition format

To check a hard drive or a device in any format, you just need to right-click on the hard drive or device partition and select Properties. You pay attention to the File System section as shown below.

What is the difference between exFAT, FAT32 and NTFS? Picture 2

V. Convert between 2 formats FAT32 and NTFS

Method 1: Convert directly on Windows

To convert the format from FAT32 to NTFS, you can convert (convert) directly on Windows very simply, and there is an article I have guided you before, if you have not. If you know, see here.

Note: This method can only be transferred from FAT32 to NTFS, otherwise it cannot.

Method 2: Use Partition Wizard

Using the most professional and easy-to-use hard drive management software today is MiniTool Partiton Winzard, if you do not know how, read this article: Manual MiniTool Partition Wizard complete

Note: The two ways I introduced above are very safe and don't lose any data.

BECAUSE. Conclude

Above are all advantages and disadvantages of 2 formats FAT32 and NTFS. And through this article, I believe you can decide which format should be used, right?

And the advice for you is to use the NTFS format for the hard drive. Hope the article will be useful to you, wish you success!

Micah Soto

Update 20 February 2021